15/03/2018 16:28
Swedish tandems pumped up for CEV Satellite on home soil
2018 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Göteborg
Göteborg, Sweden, March 15, 2018. The city of Göteborg is getting ready to host a CEV Satellite tournament for a second straight year. The Beach Volleyball event will take place from March 29 to April 1 at the world’s largest indoor Beach Volleyball arena.
The ‘indoor phase’ of the 2018 European Beach Volleyball season will end in late March in Sweden when the city of Göteborg plays host to a men’s-only Satellite. Göteborg Beachvolley Club and the Swedish Volleyball Federation aim to repeat last year’s successful premiere, which marked the very first CEV Satellite tournament ever held on Swedish soil.
The snow is currently fighting an impossible war against the weather gods as the spring has finally arrived to Sweden. A sure sign of that is that the country’s Beach Volleyball season is getting ready to take off.
With that being said, it is still a little too cold to play outside - even for most of the hard-core players who usually do not hesitate to take on even the worst of the weather conditions. Luckily for them - and all other ‘beach bums’ all over Sweden - the world’s largest indoor Beach Volleyball arena is located in the Scandinavian country.
Sweden’s top teams enjoy the unique opportunity to perform at the highest level in front of family and friends. As many as three Swedish tandems will start their journey from the Main draw.
Martin Appelgren/Simon Boman, representing hosts Göteborg Beachvolley Club (GBC), are the top-ranked team in Sweden. In recent years, they have established themselves on the international Beach Volleyball stage, playing both frequently and with great success.
“Playing a CEV Satellite at home in front of friends and family will be an amazing experience. The support we got last year was enormous and we are looking forward to stepping out onto the court in the Beach Center once again,” Martin and Simon said.
Appelgren/Boman (pictured above) are joined by fellow countrymen Linus Tholse and Jakob Molin as well as Alexander Annerstedt and 16-year-old young gun David Åhman (pictured below); two teams who made a big splash when they battled their way to an impressive third and fourth place, respectively, during the NEVZA zonal event, aka Beach Sweden, held at the same venue this past autumn.
A fourth home-grown team, Alexander Herrmann and Ludvig Simonsson, could also join the feast if they manage to fight their way through the initial qualification tournament.
Last year’s Satellite was a huge success and everyone involved – players, officials, media – praised the excellent level of the local organisation. France’s Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Arnaud Loiseau were the eventual winners of the competition with Russia’s Alexander Likholetov/Ilya Leshukov and Turkey’s Murat Giginoglu/Safa Urlu completing the podium.
For further updates and results, click here, visit the official tournament website or follow Göteborg Beachvolley Club on Facebook right here.
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